Award

Awards are proposals that are funded either through a grant or a contract. Awards are made to and accepted by the university under specific terms and conditions that must be followed. An award must be reviewed and the sponsored account established. The award must be monitored throughout the award period to ensure:

All terms and conditions of the agency are met

The university is consistent with costing policies for all types of funding

All technical, financial, patent, and equipment reports are submitted in a timely fashion

All revenue is collected and accounts are closed out in accordance with the terms of the award

Grants and Cooperative Agreements

Business and Research Administration (BARA) receives notices of awarded grants and cooperative agreements on behalf of the principal investigators (PI) in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. The sponsored project officer (SPO) reviews the award for accuracy and acceptability.

Contracts

Contracts are received and reviewed by the designated SPO.

Technical and budgetary parts of the contract are sent to the PI for review and comment.

Any unacceptable clauses or requirements are negotiated with the awarding agency.

The contract is forwarded to the vice dean for science and research or alternate dean for signature.

The SPO sends the signed contract to the sponsoring agency for execution.

Pre-Award Accounts

Occasionally it may be necessary to establish an account number before a sponsored agreement is finalized. When assured that a sponsored agreement is reasonably expected to materialize, a pre-award account number may be established for the purposes of beginning the process of recruiting project employees, ordering of specialized equipment and supplies, etc., in preparation for the start of the project.

Requirements to establish a pre-award account:

An email to your SPO providing any and all correspondence received from the sponsor that indicates imminent funding.

An email to your SPO from the department chair authorizing the setup of the account. The chair must acknowledge in the email that it is understood that should a sponsored agreement not materialize, any and all expenditures made against the pre-award account number will be the responsibility of the department. The email shall identify the departmental non-sponsored account that will serve as a backup should the project not be awarded.

Please note that pre-award accounts can be established for only one project period of up to 12 months.

The SPO will identify the pending project in Coeus and will complete the account number request form and process to Shared Services.

Award Set-Up

BARA electronically sends a copy of the award documents to the Sponsored Projects Shared Services Office (SPSS) through Oculus for processing into the SAP system.

SPSS sends an email to BARA to confirm that the award set up/modification is complete.

BARA emails this confirmation notice, along with a PDF copy of the award notice, to (1) the PI, (2) the designated department contact(s), and (3) the appropriate SPO. The corresponding internal order number (IO) is notated in the email.

Any discrepancies must be brought to the attention of the responsible SPO. SPSS will enter the budget into the account on two lines. The first line is the revenue budget shown under G/L Code 420000 Sponsored Revenue. The second line will be the expense budget under G/L Code 600000 Undistributed Budget.

The department administrator/budget analyst has the option of breaking out the undistributed budget line (600000) into detailed line items (salary, supply, etc). This is done through the R3 mechanism in the SAP system under the role of department budget creator. The G/L code 600000 should be decreased and re-allocated to the appropriate G/L codes. (Note: Revenue G/L code 420000 cannot be changed).

Department administrators/budget analysts do not have the authority to transfer funds between internal order numbers (IO’s). If the award is to be allocated to another IO, please email your designated BARA SPO with the amount and the IO’s affected. BARA will process the transfer.

Sponsored Account Management

Reconciliation or verification of financial transactions is a key element of JHU’s internal controls and is fundamental to sound business practices. Verification of all charges against a cost object, accompanied by any necessary corrections, ensures the accuracy of transactions.

Each sponsored account must be reconciled on a monthly basis. The main components of this process are to ensure that expenditures are:

Correctly charged

Allowable for the cost object being charged in accordance with regulations and policies

Allocable to the cost object charged and correctly coded as to type (G/L code)

Appropriately approved and documented

Recorded in a consistent manner in accordance with the JH Cost Disclosure Statement

Financial records (electronic and paper), supporting documents, statistical records, and all other records pertinent to a sponsored award shall be retained for a period of seven years from the date of submission of all deliverables. Financial reports, patent reports, technical reports and equipment reports are examples of deliverables. Please read the Reconciliation Guidelines & Records Retention section of the SAP Business Processes and Account Reconciliation Procedures Guide found on the Controller’s Office website for more detailed instructions.